Cinderella

fairy godmother.

I was Cinderella's fairy godmother.

And, you know, I only had about four or five scenes.

So it wasn't that hard to learn those lines.

That is correct.

In Disney's Cinderella, what are the names of Cinderella's two stepsisters? Drusilla

and...

I forget.

You don't know who it was? I don't

remember.

What was the question, even? Oh, it was in Cinderella.

It was the fairy godmother, I think.

They do, especially the first two.

So the first one is Cinderella's Nightgown from the Disney classic Cinderella.

And she has a real mop at the beginning of this movie on her head.

Her

She's got a sensible slipper on with the shoes as well because, you know, she has to start going about her day, going about her housework.

She's a busy girl.

Cinderella, Cinderella, night and day at Cinderella, et cetera.

Et cetera.

But it was a $6 million production, which was quite a bit of money back then.

But they – I think even though I rank this pretty high, I think the one reason why this film isn't beloved is because it's a little too similar to Cinderella.

I think that that causes a little bit of an issue.

But it's a fine film and there's a lot of good elements to it.

Put them together and what have you got? It will do magic, believe it or not.

That's number 16 is what some...

people would say is their favorite of all the Disney movies, Cinderella.

What you see before every Disney movie is you see the Cinderella Castle.

Mm-hmm.

which in a way I thought was a bit of a shame because like one of the girls had to play three of the princesses, like some of the smaller roles, because it's headlined by Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella.

And then the other girls in the cast, which are, so Pocahontas and Mulan are played by the same performer.

Then Rapunzel, Belle and Ariel are all played by the same performer.

Today, I'm talking with Rachel Hochhauser, the debut novelist behind Lady Tremaine, the instant New York Times bestseller, and a Reese Witherspoon book club pick.

It takes Cinderella's evil stepmother and and asks the question fairy tales never bothered to, what if she wasn't evil at all? Rachel gives Lady Tremaine a full backstory, a falcon named Lucy, and a survival story that has nothing to do with the villainy and everything to do with what women were handed and told to make work.

Let's get into it.

Hi, Rachel.

So those are the ones that come to mind immediately, but there was a lot.

And what about fairy tales?

You know, fairy tales were never my thing, with the exception, unsurprisingly, of Cinderella.

My obsession with Cinderella as a little kid started with the VHS.

But, um, I th- I think Frozen might be different altogether, 'cause it's like, you know, the stories of, story of sisters and things like that.

But, um, yeah, she broke down all the Disney princesses, and it was like, okay, yeah, we think of Cinderella and, like, or Ariel and, like, all these fabulous, like, Disney princesses, like role models for these little girls.

But, like, if you actually break down the story, they, like, shouldn't be role models at all-

Yeah